3rd SWENSEN OPEN RAPID AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIP, 2012

UPDATE:

cHEss pIRATE FAIZ ended with a 50% record gathered from 3 wins.
He Placed 23rd(StartingRank29) out of 49players with a BH of 18.
3pts were placed between 19th(BH 20.5) to 28th(BH 15.5 @ Asia Moo) 

His 3rd 50% record after POLGAR May Day Challenge and INSOFAR Age Group, Shah Alam in July.
He also won a Special Prize of a Chess Set from Cerdik Catur Enterprise for being the YOUNGEST male participant at 5years, 5months, 3weeks and 2days. Coincidentally, Faiz had also received a hamper from Cerdik Catur in another event held in June - HERE

R6: WON. (W, Bd.13) Loh Xiong Yi(1219), Checkmate.
R5: LOST. (B, Bd.10) Nur Faiqah Aminuddin(1234), Checkmate.
R4: LOST. (W, Bd.6) Wong Zi Yue(1266), Checkmate.
Note:  Also Wasted Time due to Timer NOT Pressed & Restroom Break
R3: WON. (B, Bd.9) Irfan Hakimi Irman(1180), Checkmate
R2: WON. (W, Bd.20) Tan Hougen(1128), 3 Illegal Moves(Green Cards)
R1: LOST. (B, Board 9) Ivan Sean Yeap(1246), Queen Blunder

Note:
His Cousins Arif placed 11th in U-8/ Aqil, 10 of 78 in U-10 / Ayesha, 52 of 62 in U-12.

My Assessment:
The whole idea for taking part in the U-8 event is to see how Faiz measures up against his peers. 
(1) He can hold himself against "newer" players but will struggle against stronger.
Ivan Yap(1246), Wong (1266) & Nur Faiqah (1234) are all higher rated players.
(2) Needs to "slow down" moving the pieces.
Note: Get him to start writing games in Non-Rated event to slow down his movement.
(3) End Game NEEDS to be addressed.
(4) Not to bring Gadgets that will distract him.


Assessment on Competition:
(1) Venue was good. Also easy access to Prayer room.
(2)  Food readily available even at venue.
(3) Most important, Junior players from other countries participating
e.g. Iran, India, Singapore as well as Australia & Philippines.
(4) It always irks me that time is not adhered to as advertised.
(5) Slight disappointment that advertised Lunch Break Lecture did not materialise.
(6) For RM30, note should have been made available.
(7) So called "Certificate" was just a piece of paper...leaves much to be desired!
Especially so when there were many overseas participants.




Competition: 3rd SWENSEN OPEN RAPID AGE GROUP CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP, 2012
Date: SUNDAY, 26 AUGUST 2012
Time: 8.30AM - 5.30PM, (Lunch Break & Chess Lecture: 12NOON - 1.30PM). 6 Rounds
Venue: CITITEL, MID-VALLEY KL
Organiser: ATCC / Arbiter: Abdul Hamid


Another NEW Tournament & Another NEW Venue for the cHEss pIRATE.
This must be AT LEAST the 6th NEW VENUE for 2012 after OCM-KL, PCA-Hartamas, PKS Cochrane-KL, Old Town-PJ & Shah Alam. Cititel is also our FIRST Hotel Venue. An interesting aspect of this tournament is the advertised "Lunch Break Chess Lecture". Should be interesting.

Let's see how the cHEss pIRATE measures up against his peers!!!

off to Thailand for ASEAN Debate for a different MIND GAME!

28/8 UPDATE:
Hail the ALL-Girls Debating Team and Amira Fathina!!!

The team from Tunku Kurshiah College(TKC),Negeri Sembilan emerged Champions of the 1st ASEAN Educational Challenge Debate 2012 held in Chiangmai, Thailand.In the finals held at the University, the TKCians defeated the team from Thailand.

Proud of you Amira Fathina and the rest of the team.

26/8 UPDATE:
Amira Fathina took part in 2 debates today and her team qualified for the semi-finals.
Tomorrow will be the finals.

>>>>>>>

Amira Fathina is off to Chiangmai, Thailand for the ASEAN Debate.
Family left the house at around 2.30AM for a purported 3AM rendezvous at the LCCT with the rest of the TKCians.


...in the wee hours met Johan & wife from A-Level days and Selva fm NCUK days.

Hari Raya Blitz ...and Ended with 2 Rapids

Recently, we i.e. hAnA, cHEss pIRATE & I started playing Blitz chess. Normally, we'll set the timer for 5minutes each.

Hence, in the morning after performing Raya prayers at Surau Mutiara Damansara in PJ and whilst waiting for their mum to prepare raya food for 2 families(Mine and my eldest sister Akmar)...we played a few rounds of blitz chess. This time the timer was set at either 4minutes or 3:30seconds. Had fun playing blitz and without realising it, my beloved wife had called out - " Dah Siap, Jemput Makan!"

It has always been a tradition since my late Mum was still alive that we'll have Sayur Lodeh(a concoction of mixed vegetables cooked whilst being simmered) and Ketupat with Kuah kacang....yes, Ketupat and not the cheap "knock-ons" called Nasi Himpit. Normally, the dishes will be ready by 2-3am in the morning...and without fail every year when everyone is asleep I would have the first taste of the dishes so to speak. Corny or weird as it may sound, I'd always considered the first taste of the dishes at 2-3am in the morning as a time where I reminisce about previous years while listening to the Takbir Raya. This year my wife might have wised up to my early morning food fetish especially when a few ketupats were unaccounted for and/or the lodeh levels had gone down....so she decided to prepare the stuffs the night before and only start cooking at 6AM.....aaaarggghhh! There goes my traditional early morning "tribute" to yesteryears.

...we finishEd having our meal and berhari raya with my family and my sister's family(who came from Penang) and by noon we were off to Kg.Mantun - KL to celebrate with my in-laws.

Before we knew it it was already 10PM and was Just finishing "dinner" at an Uncle's House in Bangsar...we decided then to go to an A-Level friends' (Azlina & Nizam aka Lin & Dag)house in TTDI where we met another A-levels friend i.e. Fazlur & family. We had known the couple & Fazlur since 1988...slightly below quarter of a century when doing our A-level programme in DU. What a relief as finally the cHEss pIRATE had a chess-sparring partner and he was still willing to play rapid even at 11PM. cHEss pIRATE managed to play 2 rapid games before we called it a day....just before 12midnight.

3rd SWENSEN OPEN RAPID AGE GROUP, registered!

I'd asked hAnA & the cHESs pIRATE the same question but at different times.

The question is as follows:-
" XXXX, Nak masuk chess competition tak...1 week after Raya? "

Answers:-
cHEss pIRATE - " NAK!!! "
hAnA - Shook her head and said , "...Tired la Ayah!".

Hence, for once the cHEss pIRATE is taking part in a chess competition without his sister taking part as well. He'll be taking part in the 3rd Swensen Rapid Age Group in the U-8 category scheduled to be held 1 week after Hari Raya Aidil Fitri I.e. Sunday,26th of August at the Cititel, Mid-Valley KL.

I guess, OP Peter was right when he made his comments on the kids prior to the 4th Merdeka Challenge.

Hopefully, it'll be a good competition to gauge how bad or, good the cHEss pIRATE really is as the U-8 Age Group competition is rarely organised. The last one that I can recall is the National Age Group competition organised by the MCF in March of this year.